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Nicole Kidman in a white dress looking at Keith Urban© Julian Makey/Shutterstock

Keith Urban's 'implosion' he feared would end Nicole Kidman marriage

The Blue Ain't Your Color singer said it's a "miracle" his marriage to Nicole Kidman survived the first year

Nichola Murphy
Deputy Lifestyle Editor
May 29, 2024
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Keith Urban, 56, has been open about his sobriety following his drug and alcohol addictions, which only ended after he married Nicole Kidman.

The Blue Ain't Your Color singer admitted that his addictions caused an "implosion" on his marriage, but he credited the Moulin Rouge actress for supporting him and helping him get sober. 

Keith's rehab

Nicole Kidman leaves her Darling Point home with her father on her way to her wedding to Keith Urban, 25 June 2006© Getty
Nicole's husband went into rehab months after their 2006 wedding

Keith had already been in rehab twice before the couple got married in June 2006, but he relapsed again when they were newlyweds, leading to Nicole staging an intervention.

"I caused the implosion of my fresh marriage," he recalled to Rolling Stone in 2016. "It survived, but it’s a miracle it did. I was spiritually awoken with her. I use the expression, 'I was born into her,' and that’s how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction."

Keith explained he had become reliant on Nicole and struggled to spend time alone when she was working abroad in Kosovo. 

"Meeting Nic and falling in love with Nic and starting a relationship with Nic became — I realize now in hindsight — my sobriety. That was how I was able to keep it together," he began, adding: "It was during [Nicole's] trip that that whole part of my world came back in and swamped me. And I remember just feeling so terrified. 

"We had just gotten married and this entity in my life is coming just to crush and kill everything that I’ve got. Everything that’s good. "

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman attend The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City© Getty
Keith credited Nicole for helping support him through his drug and alcohol addictions

He checked into the Betty Ford Center in October 2006 and found out about winning Male Vocalist at the CMA Awards in November while he was in rehab.

Nicole's support

Actor Nicole Kidman (R) and singer Keith Urban kiss at the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California.© George Pimentel
Nicole said she was "committed" to working through the problems in the early years of their marriage

While Keith feared that his marriage would end over his alcohol and drug problem, Nicole was adamant that they could get through it together. But that's not to say it was an easy journey; she also admitted they were in a "painful place" and had to work through it.

Opening up about the first few months of their marriage, the Big Little Lies star told Vanity Fair in 2007: "I’m more than willing to walk it with him. The two of us are very committed to our relationship.

"But it was painful, deeply painful. We were in a very, very, very bad, painful place, and have managed to step through it, and I hope that gives some people some hope who may be in the same place. And that’s enough said. Anything else is overindulgent and unnecessary right now. And I think it jinxes it, in a way, and that’s why I don’t go on about my enormous feelings for this man."

Keith and Nicole's marriage

Keith and Nicole first crossed paths at the G'Day LA event in 2005, where Nicole admitted she was immediately attracted to him. "I was really, really into him. He took a little time. And he’s like, ‘That is so incorrect, Nicole,'" she joked to Harper's Bazaar.

The pair got married the following year at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the grounds of St Patrick's Estate in Sydney. They are now parents to children Faith and Sunday.

The couple's love for one another is one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood. Keith has taken every opportunity to shower his wife with praise, even describing her as "celestial" and "from another planet."

Keith Urban, Faith Margaret Urban, Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban, Sybella Hawley, Nicole Kidman at the AFI Life Achievement Award Honoring Nicole Kidman held at The Dolby Theatre on April 27, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)© Gilbert Flores
The couple share daughters Faith and Sunday

While many have asked about the secret to their long-lasting relationship, Nicole told Today's entertainment editor Richard Wilkins: "We don't want to be a pin-up couple. We just want to be a couple that has a great life together."

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